Sophie Cunningham's injury a big blow to Fever team already missing shooting

Connecticut Sun v Indiana Fever
Connecticut Sun v Indiana Fever / Justin Casterline/GettyImages
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When Sophie Cunningham rolled her ankle again in a contest against the Connecticut Sun, it was another knock on the Indiana Fever's shooting depth as they were already dealing with Caitlin Clark being sidelined for another week or so.

She and the team are expected to provide an update on her progress sometime this week, but given the original two week timeline given for the injury, we shouldn't expect her back until the Fever's weekend game against the New York Liberty - even if that.

Cunningham being potentially out for a longer stretch than Sydney Colson, who also went down in their game against the Sun but didn't show up on the injury list, is a big deal. She's one of the more willing shooters on the Fever, taking 2.8 shots per game and shooting 36.4 percent from three on those shots.

She's also a big relief off the bench for Kelsey Mitchell and Lexie Hull, who have been bearing a large brunt of the Fever's offense with Clark's injury. In short, Cunningham being gone for an extended period of time will force the Fever to trust DeWanna Bonner to play more extensive minutes in order to replicate Cunningham's impact off the bench.

Cunningham pops up on Fever injury report

To not much surprise, the Fever announced that Cunningham (ankle) and Clark (quad) would be the only two Indiana players out for their June 3 game against the Washington Mystics. Colson, who had what looked like a nasty left leg injury in the first quarter of the Fever's loss to the Sun, seems ready to go as the team's starter in place of Clark once again.

READ MORE: Fever must fix huge flaw on offense that existed before Caitlin Clark's injury

Unfortunately, unless Colson is being more aggressive as a scorer, it just doesn't seem like she'll be the answer scoring-wise to missing Clark and Cunningham in head coach Stephanie White's rotations. Their recently signed hardship player, Aari McDonald, can shoot, but is more of a passer like Colson. She's likely going to replace Cunningham's minutes off the bench and relieve Colson.

The entire Indiana team will need to be more intentional about getting moving without the ball in their hands in order to get better three point shots up - and, not just better shots, but more three pointers in general. Without that floor spacing, they'll continue to struggle to get Aliyah Boston enough room to work with in the post.

And, if she's expected to also pick up the scoring slack with Clark and Cunningham's absences, they'll need more from Bonner, Colson, and Mitchell.

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